Authors: Holmberg M Vaidya AB Shenton FC Snow RW Greenwood BM Wigzell H Pettersson U
Publish Date: 1990/03/01
Volume: 84, Issue: 2, Pages: 202-205
Abstract
M Holmberg AB Vaidya FC Shenton RW Snow BM Greenwood H Wigzell U Pettersson A comparison of two DNA probes one specific for Plasmodium falciparum and one with wider reactivity in the diagnosis of malaria Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Volume 84 Issue 2 MarchApril 1990 Pages 202–205 https//doiorg/101016/003592039090255DThe sensitivity and specificity of 2 probes for the detection of malarial infection was studied 399 blood samples from Gambian children were tested in a deoxyribonucleic acid DNA hybridization assay and the results compared with the microscopical findings from thick blood films 8 additional pure Plasmodium malariae and 14 pure P vivax samples were also assayed One probe containing a 21 base pair tandem repeat and highly specific for P falciparum detected this species in all except 2 of 74 samples with a parasitaemia of 250 per μl or more the overall sensitivity of the probe was 76 The other probe a 6 kilobase pair organelle DNA is conserved in all Plasmodium species so far tested Its sensitivity for P falciparum was lower than the 21 base pair repeat but it detected P vivax and P malariae at low levels of parasitaemia and thus could be useful in field studies
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